Hello! We have some bright, cheery colors for our challenge this week at CAS Colours & Sketches. I’ve chosen to use them with a swooshy graphic die. I cut the die from all three challenge colors, plus black. I laid the black lines part of the die down on the white card front and filled in the spaces with the colors. I added a sentiment on a matted panel to coordinate with the matted card front. Pretty easy, really!

Be sure to check out what the rest of the CC&S design team and our guest designer have made. Then give these colors a go and share your own CAS card with us! You have until 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, February 27 to link your card at the challenge site. Thanks for stopping by today!

Hello there! Once again, it’s time for a new sketch challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches. Bev, our challenge hostess for June, is allowing some flexibility with the shapes used. So long as we can see the basic idea of the sketch, it’s good.

I’ve stayed pretty true to the sketch. For the tag element, I’ve used a sample chip of laminate countertop material that I picked up from a home improvement store… um… more years ago than I care to admit, LOL! I figured it’s been here long enough, I ought to just figure out a way to use it already. I stamped the sentiment in black ink. Since the hole was already cut into the top edge of the chip, it was easy for me to tie a ribbon through it. I stamped the gift image on a scrap of cardstock, colored it, and fussy cut it. The actual stamp has a cute smiley face on it, but I wanted a more adult looking card, so I used a tissue to wipe off the face before I stamped the cardstock. I trimmed the corners of the main card panel to echo the rounded corners of the laminate chip. Once I got the card all assembled, it looked like this:

If you need more inspiration, check out what the rest of the CC&S design team and our June guest designer have made. Then create your own card using the sketch, and share it with us at the challenge site by 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, June 15. We’d love to see what you make! Thanks for stopping by today.

Well hi there! It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for a new challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches. This time we have some nature-inspired colors for you.

I’ve decided to combine the color challenge with a few other challenges. The Paper Players challenge is to use at least one butterfly on a clean and simple card. At Less is More, the challenge is to use three stamps; my three are the butterfly, the wordy sentiment, and the “happy birthday”. Since I didn’t want the ends of the chocolate brown ribbon to show, I’ve attached the turquoise card front to a blush pink card base. The butterfly was stamped onto a scrap of white cardstock, colored, and fussy cut. The left side is attached directly to the card front, but the right side is adhered with dimensional adhesive to add a little visual interest to the card.

Be sure to see what the rest of the CC&S design team has done with these colors! Then create your own card and share it with us at the CC&S blog. You have until 1:00 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, April 27 to enter the challenge. Thanks for stopping by today!

Hello! It’s time for a new challenge at Cards in Envy – where we make cards that fit in envelopes! Cards for our challenges should be A2 sized (4.25″ x 5.5″) and have no lumpy, bumpy embellishments more than 1/4″ thick, so that the cards can be mailed at the standard first-class postage rate.

We’re getting ready for cooler weather with a challenge theme of “Put Some Extra Layers On”. This can be depicted either by having a number of layers of cardstock or designer paper on your card, or by using images that show layers in some sort. Be sure to check out the challenge blog to see what the rest of the design team has made!

For my card, I decided to let some designer paper do most of the work for me. I’ve matted it with a coordinating solid color cardstock, and the card base serves as a mat for the main panel. The layout comes from the current challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.

We hope you’ll have fun with this challenge and join in the fun and creativity! Link your card at the Cards in Envy site by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, December 6. Thanks for stopping by today!

I have to admit that this week’s colors, purple and green, are not a combination I would have thought to put together, so I struggled with it at first. I finally decided to use an image of an evergreen tree decorated with purple ornaments. This week’s challenge at CAS(E) this Sketch! seemed like it would work well with my idea. I stamped the tree with a combination of VersaMark and green dye ink and then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. Then I did a wash over it with a drop of purple reinker mixed with some water. The heat embossing resisted the wash, creating a background for the tree. The sentiment was also heat embossed in green. I added some coordinating enamel dots to the tree, along with a silver star-shaped brad. Cutting the focal panel with a stitched die wasn’t so easy because the wash and the embossing had both warped the cardstock somewhat. I ran it through my Big Kick several times, with as thick a “sandwich” as I could easily put through the machine, to try to flatten it. That did help a little bit, but not nearly as much as I would have liked. I layered the panel with a thin purple mat and then attached it all to a card base.

What will you create with these colors? Neutrals can be used, but the purple and green should be the dominant colors of your card. Link it up to our 52CCT challenge post by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Friday, November 20. We’d love to have you join us!

Well hi there! It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for a new challenge at CAS – Colours and Sketches. This time we have a sketch for you. You’re welcome to rotate or flip the sketch, or stretch it out to a rectangle if you choose. So long as we can see the basic idea of the sketch, it’s fine.

I’ve stretched the sketch out to a rectangle and turned it 90° on its side. My Operation Write Home stash is lacking birthday cards suitable for giving to guys, so I chose designer papers in a color scheme that seems pretty masculine. The card pretty much speaks for itself… so here it is:

What will you do with this sketch? There are so many possibilities! I hope you’ll try out something and share what you create with us! Link your work to the CAS – Colours and Sketches blog by 1:00 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, January 28. Thanks for stopping by today!

I’ve chosen some blues that include a couple of retired Stampin’ Up colors. It’s nice to use some of my older supplies! The layout for this card is from the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge. The card looked a little plain once I got it all put together. I wanted to dress it up a bit, but still keep the card within Operation Write Home guidelines, so I decided to add some tiny rhinestones to work as the ornament hangers. They don’t show too well in the photo, but they do add a bit of sparkle in real life.

How will you depict a “blue Christmas”? Be sure to link your card at the 52{C}CT site by 1:00 p.m. Eastern time Friday, January 16. We’d love to see what you create! Thanks for stopping by today.

Hello! The design team from CAS – Colours and Sketches is back from holiday break and ready to start off another year of fun clean and simple challenges! We’re starting back up again with a sketch. You’re welcome to manipulate the sketch, or change the oval to another shape, so long as we can still easily recognize the main elements of the sketch.

I’ve stretched the sketch out to a rectangle and turned it 90° on its side. I’ve also decided to use a heart in place of the oval. Although it’s too late now to send Valentine’s Day cards to Operation Write Home to be used this year, I kept the sentiment simple enough that this card could be sent during other times of the year. The heart is raised up from the front panel with dimensional adhesive.

Be sure to stop by the challenge blog and welcome our two newest DT members, Jane and Stef! Then create your own card using this sketch, and link it to the challenge site by 1:00 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, January 14. We’d love to have you join us! Thanks for stopping by today.

Hello! It’s time to start a new year of challenges at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown! I know it may seem odd to be making Christmas cards now, since the Christmas season is just about over. But at 52{C}CT we present a different card making challenge each Saturday, with the idea that if you participate all year long, you’ll have a wonderful stash of lovely cards built up ready to send in December. Or, if you’re like me and you prefer to send the same card design to everyone on your mailing list, you can create a great assortment of cards to donate to an organization of your choice, such as Operation Write Home, a church ministry, or your local hospital’s cancer center.

Each month of 52{C}CT challenges starts off with a sketch challenge. Our January hostess, Deborah, has created one that’s rather clean and simple in design, but could be dressed up with embellishments if you choose. The star shown in the sketch can be made any shape. I’ve used a snowman from one of my newest stamp sets. I used dimensional adhesive to attach him to the card. When I was cutting the designer papers, I cut them to size as rectangles, and then cut them diagonally to make the triangles. This resulted in two triangles from each designer paper, so I ended up making two cards – one in portrait orientation as the sketch was drawn, and one turned on its side in landscape orientation.

Be sure to visit the 52{C}CT blog to welcome our newest design team members – Julie, Tanja, and April! Once you’ve been inspired by the design team’s work, make a Christmas or wintry card of your own using this sketch. Share it with us by linking it at the 52{C}CT site by midnight GMT/7:00 p.m. Eastern time Friday, January 9. We’d love to have you join us! Thanks for stopping by today.

Hello! It’s December, which means that Christmas is just a few short weeks away! If you’ve been playing along with us at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown throughout the year, you should have a nice stash of holiday cards ready to send to your loved ones. To close out the year, we’re having just one challenge in December, but it starts today and lasts until December 19. We’re inviting our challenge participants to create a card using any one of our challenges from 2014.

I’ve chosen the August color challenge for my card and paired it with the current Freshly Made Sketches layout. The snowflake is die cut from brushed silver cardstock. For the background behind it, I first made a mask by cutting a circle into an index card. I attached the mask to the ivory panel and sprayed gold shimmer mist over the opening. The sentiment banner was cut from white cardstock and then I centered the sentiment on it, using gold ink. The ivory panel was attached to a white card base. All the lovely shimmer doesn’t show in the photo. Oh well.

There have been nearly 50 challenges at 52{C}CT this year – which one will you choose? Be sure to link your card at the 52{C}CT site by 1:00 p.m. Eastern time Friday, December 19. We enjoy seeing what our challenge participants create! Many thanks to everyone who plays along with us.

Greetings! It’s time for another color challenge at CAS – Colours and Sketches. Lizy is our challenge hostess this month, and she’s chosen a very classic color combo.

When I saw metallic gold on the challenge rubric, I got a little excited. I knew I wanted to combine a few things I’ve tried over the last few months. After I stamped the border of red polka dots, the vanilla panel got spritzed with some gold pearl mist spray. Unfortunately, the shimmer from it doesn’t show very well in the photo. I used textured cardstock to die cut the heart. I gave it some swipes with my VersaMark ink pad and heat embossed it with gold powder to give the edges some shiny definition. Using dimensional adhesive to attach the heart gives it even more separation from the background.

Be sure to check out what the rest of the CC&S Design Team has made! Then create your own clean and simple styled card with these colors and link it to the CC&S site by 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 12. We’d love to see what you make!

Today’s card combines the sketch for this week’s CAS – Colours and Sketches challenge with the colors from the Dynamic Duos challenge that’s about to end. I’ve taken the liberty of turning the sketch on its side. The butterflies were stamped, fussy cut, and then attached to the card panel, with the bodies glued directly onto the panel and the wings popped up with dimensional adhesive.

Thanks for stopping by today! Be sure to check out what the rest of the CAS – Colours and Sketches Design Team has made. Then show us your own take on the sketch! Link your card at the challenge site by 1:00 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, April 2. We’d love to have you join us!

Hello! Since it’s the third Monday of the month, it’s time for a new Cards in Envy challenge! The theme for the next two weeks is “A Little Bit Retro”. Anything that reminds you of roughly the 1940s through the 1980s is fair game. Remember, though, that the main requirement for Cards in Envy challenges is that your card must fit in an A2 sized envelope and not have any lumpy, bumpy embellishments that could push it over the first class postage rate.

I didn’t have any stamps or digital images that seemed to fit the retro theme. Vintage, yes. Retro, no. So I looked through my designer papers and felt the Basic Grey “Offbeat” collection best represented a retro look. I pulled out a few papers, coordinated some Stampin’ Up cardstock with them, and fit them into this week’s layout from Freshly Made Sketches. Here’s the end result.

The rounded “blob” shapes in the one designer paper remind me a bit of the lava moving around in a lava lamp. Groovy, huh? And there’s some of the avocado green that seemed to be everywhere during the 1970s.

So what will you create with a retro flair? Share your work with us at the Cards in Envy site by 11:55 p.m. Central time on Sunday, October 6. Be sure to check out what the rest of the design team has made and give them some blog love, too! Thanks for stopping by today!

I’ve combined the fourth OWH Labor Day Virtual Card Making Party challenge with this week’s Dynamic Duos color challenge. The color challenge is to pair Perfect Plum with a color of the participant’s choice. I picked Certainly Celery. The VCMP challenge is to create a love-themed card using OWH Stars & Stamps sketch #29. This is a great sketch for clean and simple styled cards, but it holds potential for being dressed up with embellishments if you’d wish. I kept it pretty CAS, but I rounded a few corners to keep it from looking too boxy. The blossoms were stamped onto scrap cardstock, cut out, and then adhered to the focal panel. The bottom left blossom is popped up a bit with a cardstock shim underneath it, to add just a little dimension to the card. I had one blossom left over so I used it to perk up the inside of the card. I wanted to add some sort of visual interest to the green panel, so I stamped the leafy image on it, after stamping the ink off once on scrap paper. Even though the sentiment is from a set called “Masculine Messages”, I think this particular one works well on cards for either men or women.

Thanks for stopping by today! I still have some more VCMP challenges to work on, so off I go…

This week at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown we are celebrating the “holly-days” with a holly themed challenge! The design team has made some great cards with various holly images. You can go to the 52{C}CT site to see what they’ve created, and if you love what you see, feel welcome to comment on their work – I know they’d really appreciate it!

For my card, I used designer paper with a holly pattern as well as a stamped holly image. This designer paper is old stuff, LOL. I bought it back in the early 2000s when I was a Longaberger consultant because the paper matches one of the fabrics that the company used for some of their basket liners. The colors in the designer paper helped me choose some of my retired Stampin’ Up cardstock colors for the rest of the card. I used a hole punch to cut out the berries in the stamped image so that the cranberry colored paper would show through and give the berries a more realistic color. The layout for this card is OWH Stars & Stamps sketch #185.

All right – now it’s your turn to get creating! We’d love it if you share your holly-riffic cards on our challenge blog. You can link your card until 1:00 p.m. Eastern time Friday, August 23. Thanks for stopping by today!

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